On either side of the pond, fracking is an issue

The most effective anti-fracking sign I've seen in a long time made the point with simple clarity:

The most effective anti-fracking sign I've seen in a long time made the point with simple clarity:

Tourism 3

Farming 3

Fracking 5

I had not seen it before probably because I had never before driven the Swanlinbar Road near Drumcard in Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. Other signs protested fracking on the way north to Enniskillen and back across the border in Leitrim and Roscommon. The less subtle "Fracking Hell" sign with flames erupting from a faucet was posted in Knockvicar on the banks of the Boyle River.

At a time when the historic tensions between the two Irelands is once again showing up in Belfast street demonstrations over the display of flags, it was hard to miss the unifying force of fracking. The border may separate mph from kmh, but fracking is unpopular no matter how you measure it.

The issues are familiar, the fear that rivers and streams will be polluted. In a land where every curve of the road reveals another flock of sheep grazing in a green field, green even in the middle of January, the prospect of punctuating the landscape with drilling rigs is alarming.

The Irish economy is still reeling from the bursting of a debt-fueled bubble. As the Irish Daily Mail reported last week, 2012 was another year of relentless downturn with one exception, tourism. The number of visitors was steady, their spending was up and a campaign is starting to get people to revisit their Irish roots. They call it The Gathering, and together with the anticipation that the British will once again begin to travel after staying home to watch the London Olympics, estimates for this season are encouraging.

People travel to Ireland for many reasons. I first went in 1973 to reconnect with relatives, and this time I had the variety of experiences that tempt people to come back. There was the Rebel walking tour of Dublin where you get to "hear the story of Ireland's fight for freedom as told by Irish Republicans." The sun made its one appearance for the week just in time to set over the hills of Tara where ancient kings were crowned at the stone of destiny. The Cliffs of Moher are striking in any weather.

Then there's the music, the chance to wander into a pub — say Brogan's in Ennis near Limerick — and find nine musicians around a table playing, chatting and playing some more. Because we increased the audience to a total of seven, the Irish bouzouki player asked where we were from. When I said New York, one of the fiddle players turned around and said she was, too.

Hilary Schrauf of New Baltimore has been making Irish music and giving fiddle lessons around Albany for a few decades and spends a few weeks a year in Ireland sitting in. You can find out more about her and her music at lawsontrad.com.

Of course she's against fracking, on either side of the border or either side of the ocean.